Sun Ce

Sun Ce (175-200) was a Chinese warlord who was the eldest child of Sun Jian and the older brother of Sun Quan. He was most notable for his conquest of Jiangdong during the 190s AD, creating a fief which would later evolve into the kingdom of Eastern Wu.

Biography
Sun Ce was the eldest son of Sun Jian, and he befriended Zhou Yu during his youth; they forged a close brotherly relationship. Sun Ce assumed the leadership of his family after his father was killed at the Battle of Xiangyang in 191, and, in 194, he offered his services to Yuan Shu. However, he grew disappointed when Yuan Shu repeatedly reneged on his promises to make Sun Ce a governor, and, when the warlord Liu Yong went to war with Yuan Shu, Sun Ce - hoping to carve out a domain of his own - volunteered to lead the war effort against Liu Yong. Yuan Shu suspected that Sun Ce would leave his service, so he gave him only 1,000 troops to fight Liu Yong, expecting Sun Ce to lose against Liu Yong. However, by 195, Sun Ce's army had increased to 5,000 troops, and Sun Ce defeated the warlords Liu Yong, Yan Baihu, Xu Gong, Wang Lang, and Liu Xun and conquered the territory of Jiangdong, his family homeland. In 197, Yuan Shu declared himself emperor in an act of treason against the Han, so Sun Ce allied with Liu Bei and Cao Cao to defeat Yuan Shu, who died of illness in 199. By that year, Sun Ce looked poised to conquer all of southern China, having defeated his father's rival Huang Zu; the indigenous tribes to the south were too scattered to invade his lands. In 200, as Cao Cao was embattled with Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, the Han emperor sent for aid from Sun Ce, begging him to attack the Imperial capital of Xuchang and rescue him from Cao Cao's captivity. Sun Ce and his army besieged the capital, breaking through the walls and taking the city before Cao Cao's army could return from their victory. However, Sun Ce was struck in the back with several arrows as victory was near, and the mortally wounded Sun Ce was carried from the battlefield by his family. He died of his wounds that same night, and his younger and inexperienced brother Sun Quan took over the leadership of the family.